Corn-planter.



H. N. RANDALL.

CORN PLANTBR.

APPLIUATION FILED A211111, 1913.

1,1 14,385. Patented 001.. 2o, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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THE MORRIS PETERS CO.. PHOTO-LITHO., WASHINGTON. D, C,

H. N. RANDALL.

CORN PLANTER. APPLICATION FILED APRJI, 1:913-

Patented Oct. 20,1914.

2 SHEETS- SHEET 2.

W/nesses.-

@www w- M- THE NORRIS PETERS CO., PHUTCPLITHD.. WASHINGTON. D4 C.

` j ToaZZ whom t may concern nivrrnn STATES PAi'inv-1?I HORACE N. RANDALL, koir MINEPoLrsfMINNEsorA.

Be it known that I, HORACE ltnivnnmi, va citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and vState of lVlinnesota, have inventedjcertain new and useful `Improven'ients in Cornvention' to provide simple and easily oper. v,ated means to adjust the indicator andy Planters, of whichthe following isa specication.

.My invention particularly to that. type of planters such as disclosed in my prior PatentsNumbers 913,234v and 913,235, grantedFebrua'ry 23, 1909, in which ay marker device makes a series of check marks atv one side of the machine, and an indicator onr the machine works synchronously with the ,checln'ngda vice and the planter mechanism indicating whether or not the vmarker and the planter,

mechanismare operatingto keep the cross rows in true alinement.

It 1s the primary object ofmy present mmarker mechanism so as to bring the oper- ,ation of the same into true alinement with the cross rows,y when from any reason such alinement has been lost.,

It is'also an object of my invention-to'pro j videimproved means ofoperatingthe yindi-4 u j n l y 15` rotate independently of shaft 13, or,

k statedin anotherjway, if it desired toro-fv f tate shaft 13 independently of lwheels 15, byvv cator device.

The full objects and advantages of my vention will appearin connection with ,the

detailed descriptionfthereof and arey parl ticularly pointed outinr the claims.

showing the disk for rotating the same..

In the drawings, illustratingv the applica@- tion of my invention in one form-,-,-Figure 1-is ka plan `view of a machinefembodying my improvements. Fig. 2is a sectional elevation with ,somev parts omitted. Fig. 3 is a small diagrammatic plan view showing the relation of the check marks. Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional views oflthe foot-operative device for throwing the lmachine intoand out of gear, showingthe parts in two diiferi ent positions. Fig. 6xisa sfide view on a large scale of a portion of the drive shaft Fig. 7 is a sectional end-viewkv of the parts shown in Fig. 6.

which are secured brackets 11 formedtwith boxes 12 in whichfis journaled a transverse shaft 13. The said shaft 1x3 extends outside of the frame piece 10 and is provided with j spindles 14 upon which are jouriialed wheels 15. The wheels ,15. are Ladapted to rotate relates to corn planters and lSide frame pieces. 10.` are provided to `adaptedto,be'iengaged by clutch members 17y j slidablyl mounted upon shaft 13 and normally pressedinto active engagement with hub .faces `16by means of spiral springs 18` Specification of Letterslateiit. Patented 0015. 20, 1914:. `f iippiieation indnprii 11.1913'. sei-muvo.7`e0,`351.\` l 'i `freelyupon the spindles 14 and are providedy j with hubs 16 having inner, clutch `faces .provided withgrooves 2O which receivethe' ends 2l of clutch forkfarms22 and23,jre

cured-t0 a post 24fast onk side frameinemb er 10andhave`angularly disposed karm portions 25=which extend 'inwardly so thatthe ends thereofvareadjacent one another at the 4central part of ,the machine.

v e e The ends of members 25 4,are pivotally connected, by links 26 `with* short arms `27 pyivotally connected at 28 to the stand 29 on the frame 30 extending." across the machine.` `'The arms 27 are bent at lan-anglebeyond `the pivot point? to Vform a ,foot lever; 31'."I Normally the foot leverwillbe in the position'shown in Fig.

4, in'fwliich case the springs 18 willb'e operspectively The arms 23 are pivotally, sel i ativeto hold the `clutch members 17 in engagement with they lclutch, faces' on hubs 16,

and shaft 13 will: rotate with wheels.15. Iff at any time it. `is desiredto havey said Iwheels meansof the foot of the operator, the foot lever 31mayA bedrawn into kthe position shown in Figpofrwhen clutch members 17 willk be withdrawn .from engagement with hub faces 16,"agnd wheels 15 andshaft 13 will" V be'released for` relative rotation. ISeed deliverino' hoppers 32. are mounted uponthe ends of a cross'bar 33` in line with wheels 15, and the shaft 34 for operating i said seeding mechanism is driven by means y of a sprocket chain from a sprocket wheel l36 on the shaft y13. As best shown in Fig. 3,

a marker shaft 36 `issecured by universal joint to oneend of shaft 13 and rotates with said shaft, lsaid marker shaft'comprisingv checklrowmar'king vdevices37 such as are shown and described in mysaidy prior Patent Number 913,235. -A lever 33v having an indi-` cator iinger39 is pivoted to the frame mem- Y ber 40. This 'indicator' lever is normally held so that the finger 39 is out of contact with the ground by means of` a bolt41 on a ioating arm 42 .which arm is pivotally con-v vnected` at 43 with a rocking lever 44 and at` bolt 41 pivotally connected with` ajpair of` 47 depending from crossbar 33. TheboltV 41 does not directly engage the arm 3Sbut engages a bearing piece 43 which is secured to arm 3S1 said bearing piece having a lower face suiiciently extended so that it will at all times ride upon bolt 41,'a notch 49being cut in said bearingpieceto allow the same to clear the shaft 46.` The links 45 andthe parts connected therewith are-held in normal position by means of a pair of curved lever springs 50 secured at their upper ends to crossbar 33 and pivotally attached at their lower ends to bolt41. A bolt 51 is pivotally secured at 52 to lever 3Sand extends through an aperture in a standf53 fast oncrossbar 33. A spiral spring 54 surroundingbolt 51 and Vextending between stand 53 and lever 3S holds the bearing piece48 in continuous contacty with bolt 41.* The rocking lever 44 is-pivoted at 55 below ythe crossbar 30 and has the extended end 456theieof provided with an adjustable trip piece 57 in'thepath ofrollers 58 on a series of arms 59 secured to shaft 13,V said arms 59 bearing a fixed re lation to the marker members 37von the shaft 36. y y.

From the above it willbe seen thatrotation of shaft 13 operates the marker mecha-l to lift floating member 42 and with it indi-v nism, the seeder mechanism and the'indicator synchronously. At ,the moment when the seeder mechanism is operated to deposit seed at the Yproper pointin the ground the marker member 37 is making a mark at one side and the trip 57 will"'haveV been engaged by a roller 58 causing jtlie rocking lever 44 cator lever 38 compressingleaf springs 50 and spiral spring 54; and just as a mark 60 lis made by one of the marker mechanisms the trip piece 57will be released and the springs 50 will swing links or arms 45 downwardly simultaneouslyrocking shaft 46 and with it the seeding arms 61 and the indicator lever 38 and indicator nger 39. It will be apparent therefore that the indicator `linger 39` operates in the same transverse plane as the seed-dropper mechanism; yIf the finger 39 enters the check mark 60 at the center of the rows over whichr the inachine is operating, the machine is working to plant the cross rows in correct alinement. The finger 39 is carried beyond its normal position by inertia 1 so `that its end is depressed `below the surface of the ground and normally contacts with the same whether parts 60 are in transverse alinement or not. If, however, either from slippage o-f the wheels in passing over uneven portions of the ground, when turning around,` or from any other causes, the indicating finger 39 comes out'of position with respect tov avmark 60, it is necessary to adjust shaft 13 and the parts carried thereby and connected therewith reference to wheels 15. To accomplish this the wheels are rst unclutched by `means of the foot lever 31 and connected parts above described, and then by means of a lever 62 pivotally mounted onr one of the bearing boxes 12 and which is capable of being caused to engage in notches 63 in a disk 64 fast on shaft 13, the said shaft may be turned the desired distance to make the proper adjustment. As shown in Fig. 7, the lever 62 yis hinged for pivotal movement in ythe plane of the shaft 13 at 65, being held normally in an upright position by means of' `a spring marker`66 secured to lever 62 which takes over a segment ring 67 secured to bracket 11. lt is to be noted that the notches 63 are of such size relative to the width of lever 62'that the body or Ashaft of lever 62 'may yengage in said notches whenever said lever is drawn outwardly against the force of spring 66. The segment ring 67 is preferably gradfuated onits face and sides, as indicated in Fig. 6, the graduations indicatino' the num-v ber of inches which the turn of the shaft 13 will eifect in the matte-r of change of .position of the parts carried by said shaft ielative to wheels 15. In operation this lever will, when the shaft 13 has been unclutched from the wheels, be engaged in a notch 63 either- `at one end or the other of the said scale, which is preferably limited by means `of pieces 68 which extend into the path of the lever 62. By means of the lever the shaft 13 is then turned relative `to wheels 15 a sufficient distance to compensate for the difference in alinement of the parts, as indicated by the finger 39, with reference to marks 60.

`It will be apparent that an operator, observing at any timer in connection with the operation of the machine that the indicator finger 39 is either at the front or the rear of the center of a mark'60 and noting the dis-M tance of said indicator from said center, can, with no more loss of time than is necessary to stop the machine fora moment, press down on foot lever 31 and operate hand lever 62 and make the necessary adjustment for keeping the parts in true alinement.

The advantages of this conveniently operated apparatus are very apparent. It makes a machine which withfthe most ordinary carecan be caused to do absolutely ac curate work in cross checking. The movement -of the shaft 13 relative to wheels 15 simultaneously moves the marker mechanisin 37, the arms 59 which operate the indicator finger 39 and planter shaft 46 Vand the sprocket chain 35 and said depositing shaft 34, so that every part necessary for effecting correction of alinement is moved synchro nously and in operatively related manner.

I claim:

1. A corn planter comprising a shaft,

traction Wheels loose on saidshaft and hav-r ing clutch faces on the hubs thereof, clutch members splined to the shaft, springs surrounding the shaft and Anormally yforcing said clutch members into engagement with the clutch faces on the hubs, a foot rlever and connections to said clutchv members whereby the same may l, be `,simultaneously movedl against the force of the springs into inoperative position, a hand lever pivoted upon a fixed member,y meansl fast on the shaft adapted to kbe engaged by the band vlever for the purpose of rotating said shaft` said clutch members into engagement With the clutch faces on the hubs, a foot lever and connections to said clutch members whereby the same maybe simultaneously moved against the force of the springs into inoperative position, a collar rotatably mounted upon a xed member'surrounding said shaft, a hand lever pivoted to said collar for oscillation in the plane of the shaft, a ring carried by said fixed member, a disk fast on the shaft having notches facing the lever of a size to receive the same, a spring on the lever for successively engaging' said' disk `normally holding said shaft.

3. Ay corn` planter comprising ,a shaft, traction Wheels on said shaft foroperating lever resting lupon said member, kan actuatf `the same at Will, cross rowmarkermechan msm connected With said shaft,z a spring` y v supported oscillating member, an indicator' 45 ing lever for operating said indicator mechanism, and a series'of members on the shaft operating the actuating member.

QA corn planter comprising a i traction wheels onsaid shaft for operating the same at Will, cross rowniarker mecha-- nism, seed dropper'mechanism, an indicator finger operative in'theplane `of the seed.y

dropper mechanism, spring-controlled means normally holdingk said finger out or" engage-v.

connected With said spring controlled means, anda series of members on the shaft for successively engaging and oscillating'y said lever.

In testimony whereof vI affix my signature in presence of tvvo Witnesses. 1 j.,

Witnesses y: `C. M. GRINKE,

ROBERT W. Mum.

(Jopie:` of this patent may be obtained for iive cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of` Patents,

Washington,` D. C.

ment With the ground, an'oscillating lever HORACE N. RANDALL. i f

35;: said lever out of said notches,and cross-row marker mechanism, seed-dropperfmechanism 'l and an indicator mechanism actuated from`` .i 

